Matchstick horse made from a mould.

This horse was cast in bronze and the fibreglass mould used to make the wax form I used again to build a horse from matchsticks. This horse based in a playmobile toy horse has a lot of history at this stage. Many years ago I made an original starting with chuncks of wood covered in plaster and finished in matches. 

Using the fibreglass mould I soaked the matches first in water and pressed them into the parts of the mould. I began spending more time in the studio in September 2015 when I started working for an academy rather than as an auxiliary teacher. This gave me a bit more free time and projects like this little horse were to get me engaging again and hanging out in the workshop.I was basically using whatever materials I had at my disposal.

I soaked this thin skin of matches in watered down wood glue several times until I felt it was sufficiently strong and bit by bit the form came together. I would go to Tabacalera in the mornings before my classes begun for two or three hours. I have good disipline although sometimes the transition from the workshop to a noisy classroom were you are the manager and composer of a small orchestra could be very straining. 

As the different parts of the skin were completed I began to put the fibreglass mould together In the very same way that I had made the wax form originally for the foundry. Instead of melting wax and pouring it into the mould I poured diluted wood glue many times at different stages. I had to take it back out of the mould then and bond it together with fabric and plaster mix. 

After this I sanded and filled the exterior of the horse form before putting back into the fibreglass mould and pouring a mixture of resin and marble powder down the hollow legs of the horse to both strenghten and give more weight and substance to the sculpture. 

The cast aluminium saddle was the only externally fabricated piece of the sculpture and the undernmeath was fitted with leather so it would ¨KEY´ well to the matchstick form. i stained the wood a little with oils and liquin. This will eventually be part of a pair alond with a series of illustrations explaining the origin of the idea.